Rain brings relief, but drought lingers

Deb Holtman crosses Washington Street in South Bend with an umbrella in hand this afternoon. Rain fell throughout the morning and the day remained cloudy. (South Bend Tribune/SANTIAGO FLORES)

SOUTH BEND — A measurable amount of rain fell in South Bend today for the 17th time in the past 33 days, easing drought conditions in the area and offering some hope to farmers suffering through one of the worst droughts in recent memory.

That said, conditions remain far from normal, according to Nick Greenawalt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of northern Indiana, particularly in parts of central and southern Elkhart County, where the frequency of rainfall over the past month has been much less.

"We need to see rainfall like we've seen over the past month to really push through this," Greenawalt said. Otherwise, "If we start to get dryer conditions, it's not going to take long until we're headed down the same path."

So, what's been happening over the past month to produce so much rain?

According to Greenawalt, the area of high pressure that had been sitting over the area since about June, suppressing rainfall and generating heat, moved west into the central U.S., leaving northern Indiana on its periphery, where strong storms often form.

The difference has been dramatic.

After nary a drop of rain for weeks, 11.2 inches fell on South Bend between July 13 and Wednesday, Greenawalt said, putting the total for the year at about one inch below normal and prompting the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska to upgrade the intensity of the drought in St. Joseph County from severe to moderate.

"So we've definitely made up for a lot of the earlier deficits," Greenawalt said.

And that's helped area farmers.

"We're thankful for this rain, that is for sure, and the cooler temperatures," said Richard Schmidt, who farms about 900 acres of commercial corn and soybeans south of Mishawaka, between Wyatt and Woodland.

Schmidt noted, however, that the rain “has actually helped the soybeans a whole lot more than the corn, because the corn has a short window when it needs to be pollinated, and that determines whether you have kernels on the cob or not.

The rain did “green up” the corn, he said, "so it makes it look like it's not as devastating as it was during all the heat. ... But that did not help the pollination — pollination time is over."

Unfortunately, the storms that have passed through the area over the past month, dropping so much rain in northwest and north-central Indiana and southwest Michigan, have repeatedly missed parts of central and southern Elkhart County, Greenawalt said.

"We've seen a lot of weather systems move in from Chicago, into northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan," and then peter out, he said.

For example, as opposed to South Bend, where rainfall is about 1.5 inches above normal since June 1, the beginning of meteorological summer, in Goshen, it's about 3 inches below normal, Greenawalt said.

As a result, drought conditions in Elkhart County remain severe, according to the Drought Mitigation Center.

That said, what rain has fallen in the county has helped, according to Jeff Burbrink with Elkhart County Purdue Extension.

"I guess the first real noticeable impact is everything has greened up again and it looks slightly better," Burbrink said. "Even that corn that was severely stunted has sort of greened up and looks better now.

"It's doesn't mean it's gonna produce very much," he said, "but it does look better, which lifts everybody's spirits, which I think is a good thing."

Not that farmers are not concerned, Burbrink said. After all, it's going to take more than a few weeks of rain to replace the moisture in the soil lost as a result of a mild winter followed by a hot, dry spring and summer.

"I'm not ready to stay it's over yet," Burbrink said, noting, "As I drive around the community I notice trees, especially evergreens, dying, and that's a result of the drought. Basically they've used up what's left of the water supply."